Galilee

The Sea of Galilee from Mount Beatitudes.

Scott on the shore of the Sea of Galilee where the resurrected Jesus appeared to the disciples in John 21.

Ruins of the 5th century synagogue in Capernaum, which was build on top of the original synagogue.

What a difference 50 miles makes! Today we traveled back down to the Dead Sea, but then traveled north, following the Jordan River, to the Sea of Galilee. In Galilee the hills are green and there is a refreshing beauty to the area.

We went to see the ruins of the city of Capernaum where Jesus did so much of his ministry. The most interesting part was seeing the synagogue ruins where Jesus cast an evil spirit out of a man and people were amazed at his teaching and authority. We then went to the place where Jesus fed 5000 with two loaves and five fish. There is a church built there that has memorialized this event since the year 28 A.D. This means that this miracle was recognized and remembered among the local people since the day it happened! That blew me away!

The next stop was Mount Beatitudes, the location where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. From there I was able to look down and see a beautiful view of the Sea of Galilee.

The favorite part of my day was when we went down to the Sea of Galilee to the place where Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection in John 21. The disciples had been fishing all night and hadn’t caught anything. As they were rowing the boat to the shore Jesus called out to them and instructed them to put their nets back in on the other side of the boat. They did not recognize Jesus but they reluctantly agreed to do as he told them. Immediately they caught so many fish that they could not bring their nets into the boat. Then Peter recognized Jesus and jumped in the water and swam ashore where Jesus had fish roasting on a fire for them to eat. As I stood on the shore and put my hands in the water I could imagine the events unfold and could see crazy Peter leap out of the boat and thrash ashore and come out and give Jesus a dripping hug.

I walked around and thought, “Jesus walked on this beach, probably on these rocks and this sand.” I picked up a couple of stones to bring home. They will be my prayer stones and serve as reminders of my time on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.